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Has anyone out there had a problem or seen a disaster with a gas tank leaking/sloshing into the front seat area? How about sheet aluminum around the back of the front seat area sealed only on the bottom edge with glass cloth to the floor. It has already been mentioned that sealing the sides will lead to a "shadow seam" on the outside of the quarter panels. The aluminum can be covered with whatever fake leather material is used for the side panels. Actually I was hoping for some "toe volume" under the back part of the front seat, but this could be covered up to slow down the first slosh of gas from a ruptured tank. Still a ruptured tank is likely to lead to a more catastrophic explosion that would hardly be slowed down by a plywood bulkhead. How about NSRA tech inspection on a rumble gas tank? I plan for a nonvented screw cap with a tip over vent on the passenger rear corner with an outlet hose through the inner part of the left rear fender for venting away from the battery box on the right side under the floor. The outake npt fitting will be on the left rear side so the fuel line will snake forward along the left frame rail and cross over at the crossmember so that the fuel line avoids the battery box as much as possible since it is on the right rear under the floor. The only holes in the floor will be where the tank is bolted down and they will be potted with sealer, possible fiberglass resin to put the bolts in a permanent position with retention of a sealed floor. The fuel line hole will be sealed with a rubber grommet and house sealent. Several folks have mentioned vapors in the closed seat area but I figure if the vent hose is routed out the left rear fender well it will be away from and above the battery box and hot exhaust pipes. Comments? I am learning and thinking. If Tech1 sees this maybe he can comment on what the NSRA Tech check would say about this set up before I commit to it.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
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DennyW, Thanks for looking and commenting. Your idea of a heavier upper top layer is worth considering. The stainless tanks are usually made from 16 guage stainless but I was going to require 14 gauge for more strength. However, even with heavier material on the top, the weak spot will be the hole for the sending unit. I guess if I do this I will certainly use a full width Model-A front bumper on the rear along with a luggage rack which might give some protection for the back of the tank under only a fiberglass lid. That will look like the rear of a Model-A which had a fender well spare tire and give a little more protection from rear-ending. Why is Brian so worried about a bulkhead between the front seat and the rumble compartment? If it goes the passengers are gone in any event as far as I can tell. However, I can see that if I put an aluminum sheet bent around the shape of the 1" square tubing it could be screwed to the tubing and covered with whatever fabric I cover the inner panels with. The tradeoff is that the foot space is so limited that it would be nice to be able to put your toes under the backof the front seat. If the bulkhead is for shrapnel protection then thin aluminum will not help much. If the barrier is to prevent liquid from flowing forward then the "toe slot" should be covered up or maybe boxed closed toward the front. What is the main problem, potential shrapnel? Just for the record I just sent back a "Street-race" polyethylene tank that I had bought from Summit because it appeared too flimsy to sit on unless I boxed it in substantially and then it was way too high. Hey! Here's an idea. Maybe I could put 1/4" Aluminum plate on top, front and back of the 14 gauge tank for both protection of the tank and protection of the passengers. Al would be lighter than steel and could still be bolted together for strength. Comments?
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
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Well this is where I was when the server went down several days ago. Since then I had to go out of town over the weekend and returned to put two days on car construction. The neat thing about C9x's HAMB post is that is is mainly about roadster seats BUT also shows his battery box. In the meantime I have been fooling with the gas tank question and I have used DennyW's idea about some sort of armour plate. The rumble hinges on the Bebops body has two vertical plates to stop the hinges when the lid is flipped back. I have attached a 1/4" thick 4" wide steel bar across the rear of the rumble area just inside the seat area and 4" behind the back edge of the tank so that in the event of a rear collision the rear bumper will be augmented by the 4" wide steel bar and if it is bent it will have to be bent in at least 4" before any contact occurs with the tank. I am negotiating with Rock Valley to fabricate a tank of about 16.7 gallons capacity. Then I started work on a battery box to be mounted in a similar way using a heavy duty battery box from Speedway. I have measured several batteries as to height and 8" will do for batteries with side connectors but the top edge of the battery box hits the frame bottom in such a way that the battery bottom will be 9" below the top edge of the frame. I have looked at the HAMB picture C9x posted and see that his battery is at or above the bottom edge of his right rear four-bar and that will be so on my frame as well. However, it looks very low to me. Considering that my clearance on the front axle is only about 4 1/2" I guess on a level road the battery will be above that but if the right rear wheel goes down into a gulley or deep tire track it looks like my battery box will take some grief. I had no intention of running the Baja with this car but this clearance limit is just one more limitation to a boulevard cruiser.
I am also reading the HAMB posts from C9x on Caravan seat mounting so this thread is about roadster seats, gas tanks and battery boxes now I guess.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
